SteelSeries has teamed with game publisher Ubisoft to bring fans exclusive branded peripherals for the upcoming real-time strategy game R.U.S.E. Designed to give players a competitive advantage, the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse R.U.S.E. Edition enhances performance with its superior technology and a preconfigured profile setting that optimizes game-play. The preloaded R.U.S.E. profile, created with input from Ubisoft, allows quick access to the R.U.S.E. and HQ Menus, and preset macro buttons can take the player from the bird's eye view of the war to the heart of the battlefield in an instant. The SteelSeries QcK Limited Edition (R.U.S.E.) mousepad features graphics from the game and provides a smooth and consistent glide; combined they deliver a complete and immersive R.U.S.E. experience.

Currently in open beta, R.U.S.E. allows players to use strategy and bluffing tactics as the general of their nation's army during World War II. The speed and range of movement required in the game, demands tools that can deliver superb levels of precision and accuracy. Ubisoft chose to partner with SteelSeries, because of the award-winning, innovative features and technology that the SteelSeries Xai offers to gamers. In addition to the R.U.S.E. profile that comes pre-loaded on the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse R.U.S.E. Edition, SteelSeries will offer pro-gamer recommended R.U.S.E. profiles for users to download once the game launches in June. These recommended profiles will be found on the SteelSeries web site.

Important features on the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse R.U.S.E. Edition include:

Up to 5 stored profiles including a preconfigured R.U.S.E. profile created with input from game publisher, Ubisoft

7 Programmable macro buttons with up to 200 strokes per button

Full customization via LCD menu system on the back of the mouse stored by the hardware

eliminating the need for drivers and providing configuration capabilities on-the-go.

"R.U.S.E. is a strategy game that we believe players will experience differently than any other RTS game on the market. In a game where every detail matters, choosing a mouse that obeys both the eye and every sleight of hand is a good strategy. With excellent levels of precision and ergonomy, the SteelSeries Xai mouse could become your best ally," said Mathieu Girard, Senior Producer at Ubisoft. "Not only is it fully branded R.U.S.E. on the outside but is programmed with a special player profile."

"Industry awards, player feedback and tournament wins have shown us that the time we spent methodically perfecting the SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse has paid off," said Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries. "R.U.S.E. players will be easily impressed with the game's unique game-play built around an incredible zooming engine, and with the technology we pack inside the SteelSeries Xai as well as the smooth glide and graphics of the QcK mousepad it all comes together to provide gamers with an outstanding RTS experience."

The SteelSeries QcK Limited Edition (R.U.S.E.) gaming surface is made of high quality cloth material and an optimized textured surface that guarantees smoothness and glide. The non-slip rubber base prevents sliding, no matter what surface the mousepad is on. Official artwork from the game depicts an exciting battle between opposing forces using the element of deception.

The SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse R.U.S.E. Edition and QcK Limited Edition (R.U.S.E.) will retail for 79.99 EUR and 14.99 EUR, respectively. R.U.S.E. is scheduled for release on Windows PC, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on June 4, 2010.

..I wonder if its better than my piece, just sent it yesterday to RMA. (after months of waiting for new FW, which they simply never made..)

Considering how many issues I had with that mouse, few other users Ive met that had similar or same.. I kinda doubt about quality of this thing..

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I was actually wondering the same thing. I was moments from taking home a SteelSeries Ikari Laser until someone in the isle next to me noticed and told me about the issues they had. After digging around I decided against it and got a Razer DeathAdder 3500 instead until I can order a Mionix Naos 5000.

They should be improving their existing products rather than shipping out flawed ones.

Heh, yea Ikari is almost famous for its issues (but its good mice when it works). Its not even funny that some issues are now same for Xai. I was very disappointed by same rattling mouse-wheel.. I mean, cmon they had same issue with two mices before Xai and they included same in newest? WTF..

But thats just "annoying" if it didnt have any other flaws, than I would just ignore that. Ofc its not only issue and rest is much more problematic.

DeathAdder is better V1 - 1800 CPi/DPi version.. flawless mice with probably most accurate sensor Ive had in hands. Tough, only 1800 CPi.. and that ergonomy made my hand hurt.

Very good (but not flawless) is ROCCAT Kone. If you ignore mouse-wheel issue (cant press mousewheel correctly), its great mice.

Im currently on G9x which is, well.. perfect. It has same Avago 9500 sensor as Xai (or Gigabyte M8000X, or Ozone Smog or Mionix Saiph) but its best implementation of these (except Mionix which I didnt have, so cant say).

I wrote review about these four mices (except Mionix obviously, but Im tempted to test it).

Gigabyte Ghost M8000X - 7/10 points (cause use of interpolation to get 6000 CPi and ergonomy isnt best, but still good)

Logitech G9x - 9/10 (grips aint best, mouse-wheel could be better, but overall its best from tested mices)

SteelSeries Xai - 1/10 (one point for being mouse, its sux in everything else except ergonomy which is quite nice and LED display which is nice too.. yea and great SW, but HW is tragic )

I dont have anything against SteelSeries as I own their 7G keyboard which is amazing and SteelPad SX which is amazing too.. but this? I would say just "Lets do it again and this time correctly". And stop pretending like "Everything is perfect." Cause its not.

Heh, yea Ikari is almost famous for its issues (but its good mice when it works). Its not even funny that some issues are now same for Xai. I was very disappointed by same rattling mouse-wheel.. I mean, cmon they had same issue with two mices before Xai and they included same in newest? WTF..

But thats just "annoying" if it didnt have any other flaws, than I would just ignore that. Ofc its not only issue and rest is much more problematic.

DeathAdder is better V1 - 1800 CPi/DPi version.. flawless mice with probably most accurate sensor Ive had in hands. Tough, only 1800 CPi.. and that ergonomy made my hand hurt.

Very good (but not flawless) is ROCCAT Kone. If you ignore mouse-wheel issue (cant press mousewheel correctly), its great mice.

Im currently on G9x which is, well.. perfect. It has same Avago 9500 sensor as Xai (or Gigabyte M8000X, or Ozone Smog or Mionix Saiph) but its best implementation of these (except Mionix which I didnt have, so cant say).

I wrote review about these four mices (except Mionix obviously, but Im tempted to test it).

Gigabyte Ghost M8000X - 7/10 points (cause use of interpolation to get 6000 CPi and ergonomy isnt best, but still good)

Logitech G9x - 9/10 (grips aint best, mouse-wheel could be better, but overall its best from tested mices)

SteelSeries Xai - 1/10 (one point for being mouse, its sux in everything else except ergonomy which is quite nice and LED display which is nice too.. yea and great SW, but HW is tragic )

I dont have anything against SteelSeries as I own their 7G keyboard which is amazing and SteelPad SX which is amazing too.. but this? I would say just "Lets do it again and this time correctly". And stop pretending like "Everything is perfect." Cause its not.

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I bought the Xai yesterday because of the countless recommendations I received from their owners. You say it sucks but you don't say why. Give me some examples. Should I cancel my order? What mouse do you recommend?

Mouse wheel lags - in certain engines, mostly Quake 3 and Unreal 3 engine (second is quite widely used), works quite ok in BFBC2 (only one lag, but I didnt tested it too much). And ofc lags in CoD4 as its basicly derivate of Quake engine.. (mouse lag means you turn wheel, nothing happens, turn more and whops.. it was waay too much and you have completely different weapon than you wanted).

Mouse speeds and slow down as it wants, it can be due CPI changing itself or simply speed changing, no idea.. but everyone who play games get in time used to same speed and when it changes its noticable.. (its like if it went down 1000 CPi at once .. eg. instead 5000 CPi you have 4000 CPi, at least it feels like that).

Sometimes LED goes stucked and doesnt correspond to CPI profile switched, so you need to use that CPI button switch to switch it on/off again. It also helps when mouse speeds and slows, you just switch CPI higher/lower and it works for a while, until it changes again..

Low usability is simply cause you cant predict when it slows or speeds up (mostly it just get slower). You can probably imagine how useful it is in game.

Yea and there are some rumours about Xai having some native acceleration which cant be switched off.. no clue if its true or not. Just rumour.

Other manufacturers (mainly Logitech and his G9x) used this sensor and created near perfect mouse, at least for me. G9x has no issues, except grips not being superb and mousewheel is .. well Logitech. Still I game with that, Im happy with that and Im quite good with that..

Mouse wheel lags - in certain engines, mostly Quake 3 and Unreal 3 engine (second is quite widely used), works quite ok in BFBC2 (only one lag, but I didnt tested it too much). And ofc lags in CoD4 as its basicly derivate of Quake engine.. (mouse lag means you turn wheel, nothing happens, turn more and whops.. it was waay too much and you have completely different weapon than you wanted).

Mouse speeds and slow down as it wants, it can be due CPI changing itself or simply speed changing, no idea.. but everyone who play games get in time used to same speed and when it changes its noticable.. (its like if it went down 1000 CPi at once .. eg. instead 5000 CPi you have 4000 CPi, at least it feels like that).

Sometimes LED goes stucked and doesnt correspond to CPI profile switched, so you need to use that CPI button switch to switch it on/off again. It also helps when mouse speeds and slows, you just switch CPI higher/lower and it works for a while, until it changes again..

Low usability is simply cause you cant predict when it slows or speeds up (mostly it just get slower). You can probably imagine how useful it is in game.

Yea and there are some rumours about Xai having some native acceleration which cant be switched off.. no clue if its true or not. Just rumour.

Other manufacturers (mainly Logitech and his G9x) used this sensor and created near perfect mouse, at least for me. G9x has no issues, except grips not being superb and mousewheel is .. well Logitech. Still I game with that, Im happy with that and Im quite good with that..

Thanks for the reply! When experiencing the LED malfunctioning did you have the included software installed or was this with the stock Microsoft drivers? I just want to know if it is a software or hardware issue. Have you had any experience with the Mionix Naos 5000?

Both, as I was testing mouse for review I tested it with drivers installed and with OS native. Actually I had feeling that when you set up mouse via LCD on bottom without drivers, it works bit better..

I am actually doing a little review myself and the xai is the last one I need to complete the review. Oh yeah and in terms of the laser on the xai, I actually heard that although it is based on the same Avago 9500 laser that the G9x has, the xai has a better feature set.

I saw that mouse while I was looking for an alternative to the Ikari Laser but got turned off by it only being available from the vendor. -_- You combine that with the fact that, for the same price, you can get the Mionix Naos 5000 while only available from one vendor it is available in the USA.

If they could somehow get a place like performance-pcs.com or even Newegg to carry it I'd be more inclined to buy it. Otherwise, it's just not worth it for those not in Europe.

Will be pretty much same as Naos and others.. I think that someone make some basic parts of mouse and sold it to few companies (Gigabyte, Mionix, Ozone, QPad) and they based their chassis on that.. and thats all, cause these mouse except exterior works exactly same.. (well, except Gigabyte with his nasty interpolation).

They even look quite similar.. especially Mionix, Ozone a QPad.

G9x and Xai are different, they actually did something with that sensor. One with success, another one with less or none..

Will be pretty much same as Naos and others.. I think that someone make some basic parts of mouse and sold it to few companies (Gigabyte, Mionix, Ozone, QPad) and they based their chassis on that.. and thats all, cause these mouse except exterior works exactly same.. (well, except Gigabyte with his nasty interpolation).

They even look quite similar.. especially Mionix, Ozone a QPad.

G9x and Xai are different, they actually did something with that sensor. One with success, another one with less or none..

Though, G500 shares this sensor too..

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In case some do not know, and I'd not heard of it either, one of the mice he's referring to is the Ozone Smog which looks to be a recent release. You can see what it looks like here:

Sadly, just like with the Qpad 5K it's not even remotely available in the USA from what I was able to find. Shame too since, like with the Qpad 5k, they look like they could give Mionix and SteelSeries a run for their money. *sigh* Oh well, at least our European members have another option to look at right?